


What Makes Things Easier

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Self-Harm, rated T for thematic elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 10:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19990897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "There’s been multiple prompts and fics emphasizing the father-son relationship between North and Jack. I think all of them are great, and they inspired my own prompt.Jack self-harms, maybe because of dissociation/tension relief/“to feel normal.” 300 years spent basically alone gives you issues.After the battle with Pitch, North invites Jack to hang out at the workshop, takes him under his wing, ect. with other fatherly stuff.Jack is really appreciative of North being so nice to him. So much that he begins to worry that it would hurt North if North ever were to find out about Jack’s less than wholesome habit. To Jack, it’s his own problem, not any failure on North’s part, but North seems to be so invested in Jack’s well-being that Jack’s not sure North would see it that way.Jack consciously makes an effort to quit self-harming. It’s a constant conflict, and he has to fight the urge hurt himself several times a day. But he wants to stop before it begins hurting other people, too, not just himself.Your choice if North ever does find out or not...[cut for length]"A very short fill for this one. Please let this be the last self-harm prompt on the meme.





	What Makes Things Easier

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 6/29/2016.

Jack was well aware of all the justifications he could give for what he did to himself with the discarded blades he had gathered over the years (he only kept one at a time, but they all got dull eventually). He did it to remind himself of his own reality, because you had to exist to feel pain, you had to be real to bleed. He did it because it was easier to feel physical pain and know it would stop, and know he could control when it came back again, rather than to handle the emotional pain of loneliness, which he couldn’t escape or control at all. He did it because there was something beautiful about the way it looked, the metal and the paleness of his skin and the sluggish red of his blood. He did it because he was trying to make himself scar, to give himself a reminder that time was really passing.  
  
But none of those reasons really meant anything anymore, and hadn’t for a long while.  
  
The truth was, it was a habit now, more than anything else. Because while his situation had changed so much when he became a Guardian, the way he cut himself hadn’t.  
  
Jack sat on his bed at North’s and rested his chin in his hands. On one hand, it was great, staying at North’s, learning from him, and just generally not being alone. But on the other hand, North really cared about him. He really did. And so he was pretty sure that North would be upset if one of the only things Jack could think of to ask for from all of the bounty of the Workshop was a new razor. He was also pretty sure that even if he did find a razor in the Workshop, North would know if he took it to his room. Not much got by North in the Workshop. And that meant…well, that meant that even if Jack continued on with found blades, North would probably find out.  
  
Jack didn’t want North to find out. What would he think? Would he think that he had failed in some way? That the care he offered wasn’t enough? Or did North already know? Was his cutting something that put him on the naughty list? An unpleasant sludge of guilt and anger churned in him at that idea. No, that couldn’t—surely North’s magic didn’t work that way—  
  
But, still, if North didn’t know, he would know eventually if Jack kept living with him. Jack had a brief idea that he would have to find a reason to leave, then swore aloud and flopped back on the bed. No, no way was his habit more important than companionship. And no matter what reason he gave, he would probably hurt North by leaving, too.  
  
So he would hurt North if he kept cutting, and he would hurt North if he left so North never found out about his cutting.  
  
The only option seemed to be to stop, as he always knew he should. But he wouldn’t be stopping because he really felt that it was bad for him to do it. He’d only be stopping to make sure he kept his secret. Was that right? Was that enough?  
  
Maybe it didn’t matter as long as he stopped.  
  
It was going to be hard, though. Just the thought of how hard it would be…well, it really brought home that he was going to be trying to get rid of something that always made hard things a little easier. 


End file.
